# An Episode in the Childhood of the Bab

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> Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Stephen Lambden, An Episode in the Childhood of the Bab, Los Angeles: Kalimat Press, 1986, bahai-library.com.
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> 
> An Episode in the Childhood of the Bab
> 
> Stephen Lambden
> published in In Iran: Studies in Babi and Bahá'í HistoryVolume 3, ed. Peter Smith, pp. 1-32, of 324 pages total
> 
> Los Angeles: Kalimat Press, 1986
> 
> Few concrete facts are known about the childhood of Sayyid 'Alí
> Muhammad, the Báb (1819-1850), the founder of the Bábí
> movement and the only son of the Shirází merchant Sayyid Muhammad
> Ridá (c.1787-c.1828 [c.1820?]) and Fátima Bagum (d. 1882).[1]
> It is clear though that he began his elementary studies as a boy of about five
> under the tutelage of a certain Shaykhi teacher variously known as Shaykh
> Zaynu'l-'Abidin ('Abid), Shaykh Mu'Alíim, Shaykh Anám, Shaykh
> Muhammad, and Shaykhuná (d.c.1846-7) in a school situated in the
> Bázár-i Murgh (poultry market) of Shiraz.[2]
> 
> Various stories exist in Bábí and Bahá'í
> literature about the school days of the Báb which allege his
> supernatural knowledge and extraordinary piety. They are reminiscent of the
> countless legendary anecdotes which came to be related of the childhood of
> Jesus in the apocryphal infancy Gospels and of hagiographic expressions of the
> miraculous youth of the Prophet Muhammad and the Imáms in Shi'i Muslim
> literature.[3]
> Pious devotees of those who have come to be seen as saints, prophets or
> messengers of God have often pictured the childhoods of the objects of their
> devotion as being attended by extraordinary phenomena
> 
> [2]
> 
> and miraculous deeds, utilizing time-honored hagiographic motifs or legends. To
> some extent this kind of piety found oral and literary expression in
> nineteenth-century Bábí-Bahá'í circles. It is
> particularly noteworthy in connection with the stories of the Báb's
> first day at the school of Shaykh 'Abid.[4]
> 
> ACCOUNTS OF THE BAB'S FIRST DAY AT SCHOOL
> 
> In the Táríkh-i Jadíd.[5]
> The Táríkh-i Jadíd (New history) of
> Mírzá Husayn Hamadáni (d.c.1881-2) exists in various
> recensions written in the early 1880s (roughly between 1296 A.H. and 1300
> A.H.). Apart from Mírzá Husayn Hamadání, whose
> original draft appears to have made considerable use of a version of the
> Kitáb-i Nuqtatu'l-Káf (c.1852), a number of writers,
> including Mírzá Abú'l-Fadl Gulpáygáni
> (d.1914), Manakji Limji Ha-tan (the Zoroastrian agent in Iran, d.1890), and
> Fádl-i Qá'iní (Nabíl-i Akbar, d.c.1892), had a hand
> in the emergence of this variously titled work.[6]
> At least one recension of it, transcribed in June 1881 (Rajab 1298 A.H.) and
> referred to by E. G. Browne as the "London Codex" (British Museum [Library]
> ins., Or. 2942), contains the following version of the story of the
> Báb's first day at school attributed to Shaykh 'Abid himself:[7]
> 
> The first day that they brought him [the Báb] to me at
> the school, I wrote down the alphabet for him to learn, as is customary with
> children. After a while I went out on business. On my return, I heard, as I
> approached the room, someone reading the Qur'án in a sweet and plaintive
> voice. Filled with astonishment, I entered the room and enquired who had been
> reading the Qur'án. The other children answered pointing to
> His Holiness [the Báb]> "He was. "Have you read the
> Qur'án?" I asked. He was silent. "It is best for you to read Persian
> books," said I, putting the Hákku'l-Yakín [of Muhammad
> Báqir Mailisi] before him, "read from this." At whatever page I opened
> it, I saw that he could read it easily. "You have read Persian," said I; "Come,
> read some Arabic; that will be
> 
> [3]
> 
> better." So saying, I placed before him the Sharh-i-amthila. When I
> began to explain the meaning of the Bismi'lláh to the pupils in
> the customary manner, he asked, "Why does the word Rahmán include
> both believers and infidels, while the word Rahim applies only to
> believers?" I replied, "Wise men have a rule to the effect that
> extension of form implies> extension of meaning, and
> Rahmán contains one letter more that Rahim." He answered,
> "Either this rule is a mistake, or else that tradition which you refer to
> 'Alí is a lie." "What tradition?" I asked. "The tradition" replied he,
> "which declares that King of Holiness to have said: "The meanings of all the
> Sacred Books are in the Qur'án, and the meanings of the whole
> Qur'án are in the Súratu'l-Fátiha, and the meanings
> of the whole Súratu'l-Fátiha are in the
> Bismi'lláh, and the whole meaning of the Bismi'lláh
> is in the initial letter> B, and the meaning of the B
> is in the point under the B>, and the point is
> inexplicable.'' On hearing him reason thus subtilely I was speechless with
> amazement, and led him back to his home. His venerable grandmother came to the
> door. I said to her, "I cannot undertake the instruction of this young
> gentleman," and told her in full all that had passed. Addressing him, she said,
> "Will you not cease to speak after this fashion? What business have you with
> such matters? Go and learn your lessons." "Very well," he answered, and came
> and began to learn his lessons like the other boys. He even began with the
> alphabet, although I urged him not to do so.[8]
> 
> In the Táríkh-i Nabíl Zarandí. Mullá
> Muhammad, a Bábí from 1848-9 (1265 A.H.) who became one of the
> leading disciples of Mírzá Husayn 'Alí,
> Bahá'u'lláh, and who was known as Nabíl-i Zarandí
> and Nabíl-i A'zam (1831-1892), completed his lengthy history of the
> Bábí and Bahá'í movements in about 1890 (1308
> A.H.).[9]
> The first part of this history was edited and translated into English by the
> late Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith Shoghi Effendi Rabbani
> (1897-1957) under the title The Dawn-Breakers: Nabíl's Narrative of
> the Early Days of the Bahá'i Revelation.[10]
> The following episode, which obviously differs from the loosely parallel
> account in the London Codex of the Táríkh-i Jadíd
> (see below),
> 
> [4]
> 
> is again narrated on the authority of Shaykh 'Abid:
> 
> "One day," he [Shaykh 'Abid] related, "I asked the Báb
> to recite the opening words of the Qur'án:
> 'Bismi'lláhi'r-Rahmáni'r-Rahim.' He hesitated, pleading that
> unless He were told what these words signified, He would in no wise attempt to
> pronounce them. I pretended not to know their meaning. 'I know what these words
> signify,' observed my pupil; 'by your leave, I will explain them.' He spoke
> with such knowledge and fluency that I was struck with amazement. He expounded
> the meaning of 'Alláh,' of 'Rahmán,' and 'Rahim,' in terms such
> as I had neither read nor heard. The sweetness of His utterance still lingers
> in my memory. I felt impelled to take Him back to His uncle and to deliver into
> his hands the Trust he had committed to my care. I determined to tell him how
> unworthy I felt to teach so remarkable a child. I found His uncle alone in his
> office. 'I have brought Him back to you,' I said, 'and commit Him to your
> vigilant protection. He is not to be treated as a mere child, for in Him I can
> already discern evidences of that mysterious power which the Revelation of the
> Sáhibu'z-Zamán [the Lord of the Age, one of the titles of the
> promised Qá'im] alone can reveal. It is incumbent upon you to surround
> Him with your most loving care. Keep Him in your house, for He, verily, stands
> in no need of teachers such as I.' Hájí Mírzá
> Siyyid Ali [11]
> sternly rebuked the Báb. 'Have You forgotten my instructions?' he said.
> 'Have I not already admonished You to follow the example of Your fellow-pupils,
> to observe silence, and to listen attentively to every word spoken by Your
> teacher?' Having obtained His promise to abide faithfully by his instructions,
> he bade the Báb return to His school. The soul of that child could not,
> however, be restrained by the stern admonitions of His uncle. No discipline
> could repress the flow of His intuitive knowledge. Day after day He continued
> to manifest such remarkable evidences of superhuman wisdom as I am powerless to
> recount." At last His uncle was induced to take Him away from the school of
> Shaykh 'Abid, and to associate Him with himself in his own profession.[12]
> 
> [5]
> 
> In the Táríkh-i Amriy-i Shirtiz. This narrative
> of the history of the Bábí and Bahá'í movements in
> Shiraz composed by Hájí Mírzá
> Habíbu'lláh Afnán (c. 1875-1951), the son of Aqá
> Mírzá Aqá (a nephew of the Báb's wife) and the
> grandson of Aqá Mírzá Zaynu'l-Abidin (a paternal cousin of
> the father of the Báb) remains in manuscript.[13]
> It opens by providing valuable details about the Báb's parents and
> genealogy followed by a lengthy narrative attributed to Mullá
> Fath'u'lláh ibn Mullá Mand 'Alí — at the time of the
> Báb's childhood, an assistant of Shaykh 'Abid known as the khalif
> or názim (director) responsible for selecting suitable pupils
> (ms., p. 6) — which includes several interesting stories about the
> Báb's childhood allegedly communicated by the Báb's father to
> Shaykh 'Abid. Since this narrative is likely to remain in manuscript for the
> immediate future, it may be useful to summarize parts of it:
> 
> The Narrative of Mullá Fath'u'lláh. One day early in the
> morning, Mullá Fathu'lláh observed that Jinabí Muhammad
> Ridá (the Báb's father) came to the Qahway-i Awliyá'
> (the mosque-like structure which housed Shaykh 'Abid's school
> [maktab]). A long-standing friend of Shaykh 'Abid, the Báb's
> father sat next to him and explained that God, four years previously (in
> 1820-21), had bestowed a child on him whose characteristics caused him
> continual astonishment. When the Shaykh asked the reason for this astonishment,
> Muhammad Ridá expressed his inability to adequately communicate
> the nature of the Báb's uniqueness. Such wonders, he explained, surround
> his now five-year-old son that a lengthy volume would be required to fully
> express them. Having explained his plight, the Báb's father, anxious
> that his son begin schooling, illustrated with examples the remarkable nature
> of the Báb.
> 
> The Báb, he said, though a mere child, exhibits an amazing devotional
> preoccupation. He recites obligatory and other prayers during the night in a
> very touching manner. He is able to predict the sex of unborn children and is
> possessed of
> 
> [6]
> 
> remarkable prophetic abilities. Though of tender age, he accurately predicted
> that five women and one child would be killed when disaster would strike the
> women's bath-house (hamám) of Mírzá
> Hádí in Shiraz. He has mysterious dreams indicative of his
> exalted status. On one occasion, he dreamed that he outweighed Imám
> Ja'far Sádiq (the sixth Shi'i Imám) when placed opposite him on
> one of the (two) scales of a huge balance (mizán).
> 
> On account of his bewildering nature, Aqá Mírzá
> Sayyid Hasan (Hájí Mírzá Uasan Ali, a maternal
> uncle of the Báb) suggested that the Báb might have been injured
> (maddatí, perhaps possessed) by fairies
> (pariyíyán) or malevolent spirits (jinn).
> His father consulted an astrologer-soothsayer (munajjim)
> named Aqá Muhammad Hasan. Though no sign of disorienting
> supernatural influence was discerned by the latter, protective talismanic
> devices and prayers (ta'widh wa ad'iyya) were drawn up in the
> light of the Báb's date of birth. These he subsequently destroyed,
> making a cryptic statement to the effect that being a source of supernatural
> protection himself, he stood in no need of protective charms.
> 
> Despite, or in view of, the incredible characteristics of the Báb,
> Shaykh 'Abid agreed to instruct him — both he and Mullá
> Fathu'lláh were astonished at what Muhammad Ridá had narrated. It
> was suggested he be brought to school at an appropriate hour on the coming
> Thursday morning (presumably in 1824-5 A.D. [1240 A.H.]). Then, as was the
> custom at the elementary school of Shaykh 'Abid, the primer to be used by the
> Báb would be presented on a sweetmeat tray.
> 
> When the day came and the Báb was brought to school, he, in the light
> of the remarkable stories surrounding him, became the center of attention.
> Hájí Mírzá Sayyid 'Alí (the maternal uncle
> and future guardian of the Báb) sat next to Shaykh 'Abid when, following
> certain formalities, the shaykh asked the Báb to recite an Arabic verse:
> 
> [7]
> 
> The shaykh, according to the custom, said [to the
> Báb], "Say: 'He is (huwa) the Opener
> (al-fattáh), the All-Knowing
> (al-'Alím)."' [Qur'án 34:25] His eminence [the
> Báb] was silent. The shaykh repeated himself. Still he remained silent.
> The shaykh persisted (isrár karda) [with his request]. [At
> length], he [the Báb] said, "Who is huwa? The shaykh replied,
> "Huwa signifies God. You are but a child! How is it that you ask the
> meaning of huwa? He [the Báb] said, "I, verily, am the Opener,
> the All-Knowing (manam fatháh
> al-'Alím)."
> 
> Shaykh 'Abid was outraged at the Báb's stubbornness and his
> daring claim. He brandished a rod, as if to beat him, and sternly admonished
> him for his pretensions. At his school, the shaykh insisted, the Báb
> must busy himself with his elementary studies. To this end, the Báb's
> uncle, Hájí Mírzá Sayyid 'Alí, gave his
> remarkable nephew some kindly advice and went away.
> 
> Such, in outline, is the gist of Mullá Fathu'lláh's narrative
> which draws, in large measure, on a reported conversation between the
> Báb's father and Shaykh 'Abid.[14]
> 
> The Narrative of Aqá Muhammad [ibn] Ibráhim Ismá'il
> Bayg. Immediately after setting down the narrative of Mullá
> Fathu'lláh concerning the Báb's reception at school,
> Mírzá Habibu'lláh records a story about the Báb's
> first day at school on the authority of Aqá Ibráhim, an older
> fellow pupil of the Báb. It has been paraphrased by Hasan Balyuzi:
> 
> The Báb had taken a seat, with great courtesy, in
> between this boy [Aqá Muhammad, then twelve years old] and another pupil
> [a certain Aqá Mírzá Muhammad Ridá, also twelve
> years old] who was also much older than Himself. His head was bowed over the
> primer put in front of Him, the first lines of which He had been taught to
> repeat. But he would not utter a word. When asked why He did not read aloud as
> other boys were doing He made no reply. Just then two boys, sitting near them,
> were heard to recite a couplet from Hafez, which runs
> thus:
> 
> [8]
> 
> From the pinnacles of the Throne they whistle down to thee;
> 
> How is it that in this snare thou now entrapped be?
> 
> "That is your answer," said the Báb, turning to Aqá Muhammad
> Ibráhim[15]
> 
> This narrative is clearly meant to illustrate the Báb's exalted status
> and supernatural knowledge. As the couplet from Hafez indicates, his true abode
> is the heavenly world and not this narrow earthly sphere. Worth noting is the
> fact that as in the narratives quoted and summarized above, the Báb is
> pictured as being stubbornly silent when pressed to acquire knowledge through
> ordinary channels. His divinely bestowed knowledge renders normal study
> essentially unnecessary.
> 
> It will be obvious to the reader that the accounts of the Báb's arrival
> and first day at school cannot all be uncolored eyewitness accounts or strictly
> accurate historical narratives. The loosely parallel narratives of the
> Táríkh-i Jadíd and the Táríkh-i
> Nabíl cannot both be the exact records of the words, observations
> and actions of Shaykh 'Abid. Neither can they be reconciled with the narratives
> of Mullá Fath'u'lláh and Aqá Muhammad set down in the
> Táríkh-i Amriy-i Shiraz. The discrepancies indicate the
> fundamentally nonhistorical nature of these stories, while the theological
> points made by all of them are in harmony. The same is also suggested by the
> fact that the general setting, and certain details, of several of these stories
> of the Báb's first day at school are paralleled by legendary narratives
> about the childhood of Jesus as recorded in a wide range of Christian and
> Islamic literatures.
> 
> A comparative and traditio-historical study of the stories about the
> Báb's school days strongly suggests that they originated in
> Bábi-Bahá'í circles sometime before the 1880s, and that
> during a period of oral transmission several versions emerged that, in diverse
> ways, reflect much older legends about Jesus'
> 
> [9]
> 
> first day at school. Before discussing the matter further, it will be
> convenient to give a few details about the Christian and Islamic accounts of
> Jesus' school days.
> 
> APOCRYPHAL ACCOUNTS OF JESUS' FIRST DAY AT SCHOOL
> 
> The canonical Gospels, as is well known, record little or nothing (in the case
> of Mark and John) of the childhood of Jesus. It is only in Luke 2:42ff. that we
> are told something of the precocious learning of the young Jesus.[16]
> By the time of the rise of Islam, however, a very large number of apocryphal
> stories about Jesus' childhood and youth were circulating in written form. One
> such apocryphal story which is widely attested is that of Jesus at school in
> Nazareth. It affords some remarkable parallels to the accounts of the
> Báb's first day at school. There are a very large number of versions of
> this story (which cannot possibly all be set down here). It must suffice to
> refer to one of the versions of the In fancy Gospel of Thomas, the many
> recensions of which (sixth century A.D.? and later, including Arabic versions)
> attempt to portray Jesus as an infant prodigy: [17]
> 
> Now a certain teacher, Zacchaeus by name, who was standing
> there, heard in part Jesus saying these things to his father, and marvelled
> greatly that, being a child, he said such things. And after a few days he came
> near to Joseph and said to him: "You have a clever child, and he has
> understanding. Come, hand him over to me that he may learn letters, and I will
> teach him with the letters all knowledge, and to salute all the older people
> and honour them as grandfathers and fathers, and to love those of his own age.
> And he told him all the letters from Alpha and Omega clearly, with much
> questioning. But he looked at Zacchaeus the teacher and said to him: "How do
> you, who do not know the Alpha according to its nature, teach others the
> Beta." Then he began to question the teacher about the first letter, and
> he was unable to answer him. And in the hearing of many the child said to
> Zacchaeus: "Hear,
> 
> [10]
> 
> teacher, the arrangement of the first letter, and pay heed to
> this, how it has lines and a middle mark which goes through the pair of lines
> which you see, (how these lines) converge, rise, turn in the dance, three signs
> of the same kind, subject to and supporting one another, of equal proportions;
> here you have the lines of the Alpha." [The text here appears to be
> corrupt.]
> 
> Now when Zacchaeus the teacher heard so many such allegorical descriptions of
> the first letter being expounded, he was perplexed at such a reply and such
> great teaching and said to those who were present: "Woe is me. I am forced into
> a quandry, wretch that I am; I have brought shame to myself in drawing to
> myself this child. Take him away, therefore, I beseech you, brother Joseph. I
> cannot endure the severity of his look, I cannot make out his speech at all.
> This child is not earth-born; he can tame even fire. Perhaps he was begotten
> before the creation of the world.... I strove to get a disciple, and have found
> myself with a teacher. Therefore I ask you, brother Joseph, take him away to
> your house. He is something great, a god or an angel or what I should say I do
> not know."
> 
> And when Joseph saw the understanding of the child and his age, that he was
> growing to maturity, he resolved again that he would not remain ignorant of
> letters; and he took him and handed him over to another teacher. And the
> teacher said to Joseph: "First I will teach him Greek, and then Hebrew." For
> the teacher knew the child's knowledge and was afraid of him. Nevertheless he
> wrote the alphabet and practised it with him for a long time; but he gave no
> answer. And Jesus said to him: "If you are indeed a teacher, and if you know
> the letters well, tell me the meaning of the Alpha, and I will tell you
> that of the Beta." And the teacher was annoyed and struck him on the
> head. And the child was hurt and cursed him, and he immediately fainted and
> fell to the ground on his face. And the child returned to Joseph's house. But
> Joseph was grieved and commanded his mother: "Do not let him go outside the
> door, for all those who provoke him die."
> 
> And after some time yet another teacher, a good friend of Joseph, said to him:
> "Bring the child to me to the school. Perhaps I by persuasion can teach him the
> letters." And Joseph said to him:
> 
> [11]
> 
> "If you have the courage brother, take him with you." And he
> took him with fear and anxiety, but the child went gladly. And he went boldly
> into the school and found a book lying on the reading desk [Cf. Luke 4:16f.]
> and took it, but did not read the letters in it, but opened his mouth and spoke
> by the Holy Spirit and taught the law to those that stood by. And a large crowd
> assembled and stood there listening to him, wondering at the grace of
> his teaching and the readiness of his words [Cf. Luke 4:27], that
> although an infant he made such utterances. But when Joseph heard it, he was
> afraid and ran to the school, wondering whether this teacher also was without
> skill (maimed). But the teacher said to Joseph: "Know, brother, that I took the
> child as a disciple; but he is full of great grace and wisdom; and now, I beg
> you brother, take him to your house."
> 
> And when the child heard this, he at once smiled on him and said: "Since you
> have spoken well and have testified rightly, for your sake shall he also that
> was smitten be healed." And immediately the other teacher was healed. And
> Joseph took the child and went away to his house.[18]
> 
> Central to the many versions of the story of Jesus and the alphabet or of his
> first day at school is the so-called Alpha-Beta Logion which is found in the
> Epistula Apostolorum [4], attributed to the Marcosians by
> Irenaeus (Adv. Haer. I.xx.1) and contained in the Infancy Gospel of Thomas
> (Greek A + B + Syriac + Latin + Arabic, etc.) and the related Gospel of
> Pseudo-Matthew (Latin + Slavonic + Arabic + Ethiopic, etc.). Perhaps having
> originated among second-century Christian gnostics, the following are a few
> versions of it: [19]
> 
> Epist. Apost.: "[Before I say Alpha] First tell me what Beta is." (Greek
> text corrupt?)
> 
> Greek A [Infancy Gosp. Thorn.]: "How do you, who do not know the
> Alpha according to its nature, teach others the Beta." (Also quoted above.)
> 
> [12]
> 
> Greek B [Infancy Gosp. Thorn.] "Thou that knowest not the Alpha,
> how canst thou teach another the Beta?"
> 
> Arabic: "Explain to me Alaph, and then I shall say Beth."[20]
> 
> While Brian McNeil has argued that the source of the legend of Jesus and the
> alphabet is to be found in a proverb contained in the Story of Ahikar
> (Syriac 8:36; Arabic 8:33; Armenian 8:23), Stephen Gero has speculated
> about a Christian developmental sequence:[21]
> 
> A rather interesting, though admittedly very hypothetical,
> developmental sequence of the story of Jesus and the teacher emerges from this
> discussion. The original logion in the first stage of oral transmission
> (lst-2nd century) developed a concise controversy apophthegm. The apophthegm
> was written down in the second century (Epistula Apostolorum,
> Marcosians, Irenaeus), but not thereby removed from oral circulation. In
> the next "tunnel period" of oral transmission, from the second to the sixth
> century, [during which the history of the transmission of the tradition is
> obscure] the narrative material was considerably expanded, but the saying
> itself was preserved unchanged.... The narrative was then fixed in writing in
> the sixth century, and did not thereafter undergo much further development.
> However, in this third stage of mainly written transmission, between the
> sixth and tenth centuries, the saying itself began to be expanded, and brought
> into conformity, by two successive additions, with a synoptic model. This final
> stage is represented by the Greek Vorlage of the Slavonic and Greek
> versions and by the Syrian prototype of the late Syriac versions.[22]
> 
> There are then many versions of the story of Jesus and the alphabet in
> Christian apocryphal and other literatures. As McNeil notes, however, they all
> agree in telling a story with the following features: "The master attempts to
> teach Jesus the alphabet. But, he cannot get beyond the first two letters, for
> Jesus demands that he explain the meaning of the letter Alpha. In most
> 
> [13]
> 
> versions, he himself then expounds the mystic meaning of the
> alphabet."[23]
> 
> SOME EXAMPLES OF THE STORY OF JESUS AND THE ALPHABET IN ISLAMIC LITERATURES
> 
> Not only is the story of Jesus and the alphabet found in Christian sources,
> but it exists also in many different forms in Sunni and Shi'i Islamic
> literatures. It is doubtless these Muslim transformations of the Christian
> story that have contributed to both the form and the content of the stories of
> the Báb's first day at school. Only a few examples of the Islamic
> versions can be mentioned here:
> 
> The son of 'Adi related on the authority of Abii Sa'id
> al-Khadri a tradition [from the Prophet Muhammad] that when his mother handed
> over Jesus, son of Mary, to the school that one should teach him, the teacher
> said to him, "Write Bismilláhi (In the name of God)." Jesus said
> to him [the teacher], 'What is Bismi (in the name)?" The teacher
> replied, "I do not know." Then Jesus said, "[The letter] B' is
> Bahá' Alláh [the glory of God], and [the letter] sin
> is Santhu [His grandeur], and [the letter] mirn is Mulkuhu
> [His Kingdom], and Alláh is the God of gods. And
> al-Rahmán [the Merciful] means merciful in this world and the
> next; and al-Rahim means Compassionate in the next world, . . .
> [etc.]"[24]
> 
> Here Jesus is represented as giving a profound explanation of the basmalla
> on his first day at school. The teacher does not know its deep meaning, so
> the child enlightens him. The Báb is pictured similarly in the
> Táríkh-i Jadíd and the Táríkh-i
> Nabíl.
> 
> Another example:
> 
> Mary took Jesus to a teacher. The teacher asked, "What is
> your name?"
> 
> [14]
> 
> "Jesus," he said.
> 
> "Say the alphabet," said the teacher.
> 
> "What is the alphabet?" asked Jesus.
> 
> "I do not know," he replied.
> 
> Then said Jesus, "Get up from your place so I may sit there, and I shall teach
> you the explanation of the alphabet." The teacher got up, and Jesus sat down
> and said, "The alphabet begins with four letters, alif, be, jim and
> dal:
> 
> Alif: Alláh, "God";
> 
> Be: Bahá Alláh, "God's splendour";
> 
> Jim: Jalál Alláh, "God's awesomeness";
> 
> Dal: Din Alláh, "God's religion";
> 
> He: Huwa Alláh, "He is God";
> 
> Waw: Waylat Alláh, "God's woe";
> 
> Zayn: Zabániyat al-káfirin, "the myrmidons of
> infidels";
> 
> Ha: Hitta li'l-kháti'ín, "forgiveness for those in
> error";
> 
> Ta: Shajarat Túbá li'l-mu'minín, "the Tuba tree for
> believers";
> 
> Ya: Yad Alláh 'alá khalqihi ajam'ín, "God's hand
> over all of his creation";
> 
> Kaf: Kalám Alláh, "God's Word";
> 
> Lam: Liqá' Alláh, "meeting God";
> 
> Mim: Málik yawm al-dín, "the king of the Day of
> Resurrection";
> 
> Nun: Núr Alláh, "God's light";
> 
> Sin: Sunnat Alláh, "God's path";
> 
> 'Ayn: 'Ilm Alláh, "God's knowledge";
> 
> Fa: Fi'l Alláh, "God's action";
> 
> sad: Sidq Alláh fi wa'dih, "God's sincerity in His promise";
> 
> Qaf: Qudrat Alláh, "God's might";
> 
> Ra: Rabúbiyyat Alláh, "God's divinity";
> 
> Shin: Mashí'at Alláh, "God's will";
> 
> Te: Ta'allá Alláh'ammá yashkurún, "God is
> more exalted than that for which he is thanked."
> 
> The teacher said to him, "You have done very well, Jesus." He took him to his
> mother and said, "Your child did not need a teacher."[25]
> 
> [15]
> 
> This version of the story of Jesus' first day at school, translated from an
> Arabic recension of Muhammad b. Abdu'lláh Kisá 'i's
> Qisasu'l-Anbiyyá (Tales of the prophets, thirteenth century A.D.
> and early translated into Persian), has Jesus assume the position of teacher
> and explain the significance of the twenty-two letters of the "Hebrew"
> alphabet. Jesus' bewildered tutor takes the learned child back to his mother,
> telling her that he is in no need of instruction. This is similar to the
> stories in which Shaykh 'Abid takes the Báb back home to his grandmother
> (Táríkh-i Jadíd ), or uncle
> (Táríkh-i Nabíl), his father being regarded
> as having passed away by this time in these two
> Bábi-Bahá'í versions.
> 
> In yet another version of the story of Jesus' first day at school (as a
> seven-month old baby), which is attributed to the fifth Shi'i Imám,
> Muhammad b. 'Alí Báqir (c. 675-732), there are obvious parallels
> to the accounts of the Báb's first day at school found in the
> Táríkh-i Jadíd and the Táríkh-i
> Nabíl. Contained in the Kitábu'l-Nubuwwat of Muhammad
> Báqir Majlisí's Biháru'l-Anwár (a massive
> compendium of Shi'i tradition and learning that was much read and quoted by
> well-educated Bábís and Bahá'ís at the time of the
> Báb and Bahá'u'lláh, who also quoted it), this story may
> well have inspired something of the form and content of the story of the
> Báb's first day at school:
> 
> ... Abi Jafar said: "When Jesus son of Mary was born and but
> a day old he was as if a child of two months. So when he was seven months old
> his mother took him by the hand, brought him to the school
> (al-kuttáb), and entrusted him to the teacher
> (al-mu'addib). The teacher said to him, 'Say:
> Bismi'lláh al-Rahmán al-Rahim.' So Jesus said,
> 'Bismi'lláh al-Rahmán al-Rahim.' The teacher then said to him,
> 'Say: abjad.' Jesus lifted up his head and said, 'Do you know what
> abjad means?' [Outraged, the teacher] rose up with a thonged whip to
> strike him [Jesus]. He [Jesus] said, '0 teacher! Do not strike me if you know
> [the meaning of abjad]; otherwise ask
> 
> [16]
> 
> me so that I can expound [its meaning] for you.' He [the
> teacher] said, 'Expound for me!' Jesus said:
> 
> 'The [letter] alif signifies the benefits of God
> (álá' Alláh); the bá', the
> delight of God (bahjat Alláh); the jim, the beauty
> of God (jamál Alláh); and the dál,
> the religion (or judgement) of God (dín Alláh).
> In hawwaz [letters five through seven], the [letter] há'
> signifies the fear of hell (hawl jahannam), the
> wáw, "Woe unto the people of the Fire" (wail li-ahl
> al-núr), and the zá', the moaning of [those
> in?] hell (zafír jahannam). Huttí [i.e., letters
> eight through ten] signifies that the sins (khatáya) of
> the penitents have been absolved. Kaliman [i.e., letters eleven through
> fourteen] signifies the speech of God (kalám Alláh):
> "There is no alteration for His words (kalimátahu)."
> Sa'fas [i.e., letters fifteen through eighteen] signifies "measure for
> measure and portion for portion (sa' bi-sa' wa'l-jaza' bi'l-jaza')
> ." Qarishat [i.e., letters nineteen through twenty-two] signifies
> "their collecting (qarshuhum) and their assembling
> (hashruhum).
> 
> [Having heard Jesus' words] the teacher said [to Jesus' mother], '0
> thou woman! Take your son by the hand [i.e., take him home]. He knoweth and
> standeth not in need of a teacher."[26]
> 
> It is of interest to note that the versions of the Christian apocryphal
> accounts of Jesus and the alphabet were early on elaborated and set in an
> Imámological context by (proto-) Shi'i Muslim writers. The
> "proto-Ismailian" Persian treatise entitled Ummu'l-Kitáb (Mother
> of the book), which apparently reflects late-eighth-century Shi'i gnosis (in a
> Khattábí milieu)[27]
> and "abounds in precise Manichean reminiscences and features borrowed from the
> apocryphal books of the Bible,"[28]
> illustrates how the story was adapted by Ismaili esotericists. Commenting on
> the proto-Ismaili adaptation of the gnosis of antiquity, Henri Corbin has
> written:
> 
> The book [Ummu'l-Kitáb] is presented in the
> form of an initiatory discussion between the fifth Imám, Muhammad
> Báqir, and three of
> 
> [17]
> 
> his intimate disciples or "beings of light"
> (róshanián), as the Imám calls them. The
> prologue reports a story from the childhood of the holy Imám, when his
> teacher, 'Abdulláh Sabbáh, was preparing to teach him the
> arithmological powers and symbolic meanings of the letters — i.e., the
> jafr, or philosophic alphabet.... However, with the first letter,
> alif, their roles were reversed: the poor teacher, whose learning is
> outstripped, becomes the pupil, and the young Imám becomes his
> initiator. The story repeats the point by point one that is reported in the
> Gospel of Thomas and which is also known from the Epistula
> Apostolorum: the young Imám has purely and simply been substituted
> for Jesus...."[29]
> 
> PARALLELS WITH STORIES OF THE BÁB
> 
> Having set down some details of the Christian and Islamic versions of Jesus'
> early educational experiences, it will be convenient at this point to note a
> few of the detailed parallels with the stories of the Báb's first day at
> school:
> 
> As in certain Islamic versions of Jesus' first day at
> school, the Báb is asked to recite (or expound the meaning of) the
> basmalla (Táríkh-i Jadíd and
> Táríkh-i Nabíl);
> 
> As in certain Christian and Islamic accounts, several of the
> Bábí-Bahá'í narratives indicate that the Báb
> was stubbornly silent before displaying his supernatural knowledge to his
> bewildered teacher;
> 
> As in certain Christian versions and in some Islamic ones (for
> example, in the narrative attributed to Imám Ja'far Sádiq quoted
> above), the account of Mullá Fathu'lláh in the
> Táríkh-i Amriy-i Shiráz has the teacher threaten
> his precocious pupil by brandishing a rod;
> 
> As in certain of the Christian and Islamic narratives, the
> Báb is said to have been taken home or sent away after displaying his
> divine knowledge, since he stood in no need of any teacher. Ultimately,
> however, he is sent back to school.
> 
> [18]
> 
> In connection with the last parallel, it should be noted that the
> various Bábí-Bahá'í accounts of the Báb's
> first day at school differ with respect to who took the Báb away and the
> place to which he was taken. The account in Táríkh-i
> Jadíd has it that Shaykh 'Abid took the Báb home to his
> grandmother. That in the Táríkh-i Nabíl has Shaykh
> 'Abid take him to the office of his uncle, Hájí
> Mírzá Sayyid 'Alí. The narrative of Mullá
> Fath'u'lláh in the Táríkh-i Amriy-i Shiraz records
> that Hájí Mírzá Sayyid 'Alí was present with
> the Báb during the first part of his first day at school and made sure
> that he commenced his education before going away. These discrepancies can be
> partly explained in the light of the confusion surrounding the date of the
> Báb's father's death and who thereafter took care of him.[30]
> 
> As already indicated, it would seem probable that several, if not all of the
> accounts of the Báb's first day at the school of Shaykh 'Abid are, in
> large measure, hagiographic reworkings of elements contained in the Islamic
> versions of Jesus' first day at school.[31]
> While the Báb does appear to have been a remarkable youth, the details
> of the accounts of his first day at school are unlikely to be historically
> accurate. Though it is alleged that Shaykh 'Abid "used to relate"
> (Táríkh-i Jadíd) or "related"
> (Tiárikh-i Nabíl) such stories, it is unlikely that
> the accounts, in all their (sometimes) contradictory details, originated with
> him. The Báb's one-time teacher died around 1846-7, about thirty-five
> years before the Táríkh-i Jadíd was written and
> almost forty-five years before Nabíl completed his
> Bábí-Bahá'í history. The authors of neither work,
> it is very likely, had ever met Shaykh 'Abid — Nabíl became a
> Bábí about two years after the shaykh passed away.
> 
> The narratives of the story of the Báb's first day at school are thus
> not direct eye-witness testimonies, but accounts attributed to an eye-witness
> (Shaykh 'Abid) by others — no chain (isnád) for the
> transmission of the story is provided. Even if it is assumed that the
> narratives actually originated with Shaykh
> 
> [19]
> 
> 'Abid (and this is unlikely), they must have been orally circulated for between
> thirty-five and forty-five years before being written down, and so have been
> subject to embellishment. Shaykh 'Abid, having apparently become a
> Bábí toward the end of his life, may have spoken about the
> remarkable behavior and erratic schooling of the Báb.[32]
> But it is almost certainly the case that whatever traditions about the
> Báb's early schooling that may have existed were, during a generation of
> oral circulation, embellished and linked with the unhistorical narrative of
> Jesus' first day at school contained in Christian and Islamic literatures. Just
> as proto-Ismailis adapted the Christian apocryphal account of Jesus and the
> alphabet to the fifth Imám, so did pious Bábís and
> Bahá'ís adapt the Islamic versions of the story to highlight the
> remarkable youth of the object of their adoration, the Báb.[33]
> 
> That certain details within the accounts of the Báb's first day at
> school are nonhistorical, or a pious reflection of the creative imagination of
> learned Iranian Bahá'ís who lived during the middle decades of
> the nineteenth century, should not be taken to indicate that these stories are
> meaningless fabrications.[34]
> Since they convey religious perspectives, they are no less meaningful than, for
> example, the ever-increasing number of New Testament (synoptic) pericopes which
> critical research now suggests are essentially unhistorical.
> 
> The legendary and mythic dimension of Bábí and
> Bahá'í historical narratives does not devalue these writings. The
> saintly characters from whom certain pericopes contained in such chronicles
> originated were, despite and because of their piety, given to myth-making and
> the creation of legend. The more or less precritical religious and ideological
> milieu within which nineteenth-century Bábí-Bahá'í
> narrators lived led them to creatively mix "what took place" with what,
> theologically speaking, "ought to have taken place." For many among the devout,
> legend and myth were important vehicles for the expression of
> 
> [20]
> 
> meta-historical religious perspectives. It was their conviction that religious
> truth goes beyond what "actually took place." The primitive Bábí
> kerygma and the concrete facts of Bahá'í history were, in
> certain circles, adapted and embellished with legend and myth in order to
> infuse them with religious meaning, and thereby attract prospective converts to
> the Bábí and Bahá'í fold.
> 
> While it would be a gross exaggeration to suggest that
> Bábí-Bahá'í historical sources stand in need of a
> wholescale demythologization, the recognition that they contain legendary
> accounts and mythic elements and the appreciation of the function and meaning
> of these elements is important. The nonhistorical dimension within the sources
> cannot be ignored either by the scholar who desires to determine what happened
> or by the devotee seeking religious meaning.
> 
> Finally, I would like to make a few basic points of a general and
> methodological nature relating to the academic analysis of primary,
> nineteenth-century Bábí and Bahá'í historical
> sources. In studying these sources, it is important to develop an awareness of
> their frequent hagiographical, apologetical, or polemical orientations and an
> ability to recognize and understand the function of such levels of thought as
> meta-historical legend and myth. Failure to acknowledge or to understand such
> dimensions in the sources can result in an unconscious fundamentalism that will
> lead both to a distorted presentation of historical facts and an
> inability to divine the religious message conveyed in these sources.
> 
> Narratives, and other elements found in the sources, that are obviously
> nonhistorical or meta-historical to the knowledgeable student (who may
> nonetheless be alive to their religious meaning) may be mistakenly taken to be
> "concrete facts" of history by anyone who assumes a naively fundamentalist, or
> a narrowly historical, approach. It is thus important that the study of
> Bábí and Bahá'í doctrine — the universe of
> religious discourse —
> 
> [21]
> 
> go hand in hand with any historical analysis. The precritical nature of a good
> many of the sources demands this methodological orientation.
> 
> Nonhistorical elements within Bábí and Bahá'í
> historical sources are frequently to be accounted for in the light of a desire
> on the part of the pious to demonstrate either a prophetological typology or
> some prophecy-fulfillment scheme. The early believers were eager to demonstrate
> that the lives of the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh mirrored and
> were as miraculous as those of such former major prophets as Muhammad and
> Jesus.[35]
> In addition, they wished to demonstrate that
> Bábí-Bahá'í history is in conformity with all
> manner of eschatological prophecies.[36]
> While I am not suggesting that all the typological speculations and
> prophecy-fulfillment schemes that are spelled out in the sources have no
> concrete historical bases at all, it should be borne in mind that a
> consciousness of their theological function often enables the scholar to
> identify and explain a good many contradictions and proven errors.
> 
> It should be recognized, further, that certain narratives are the result of
> several decades of oral transmission, and that during this period even
> "eye-witness accounts" originally rooted in historical fact have been
> embellished with nonhistorical elements, censored (or partially altered) to
> conform to a developing Bábí-Bahá'í theology, or
> transmitted inaccurately.
> 
> The study of Bábí and Bahá'í history will be
> severely handicapped if a critical and comparative study of all available
> sources bearing on important episodes is not carried out. This is especially so
> inasmuch as certain historical chronicles have come to be accorded an almost
> canonical status within the modem Bahá'í community, while others
> of great importance have come to be ignored or viewed with considerable
> suspicion.[37]
> There are parallel accounts of major episodes in nineteenth-century
> Bábí and Bahá'í history that invite comparative and
> critical analysis. These numerous and often conflicting
> 
> [22]
> 
> accounts exist in a plethora of Muslim, Bábí, Azali,
> Bahá'í, and other sources that have, on the whole, never been
> carefully examined. Bahá'í historiography is in its infancy. It
> is hoped that this essay, if nothing else, will highlight the need for
> Bahá'í historians to acknowledge and appreciate the legendary and
> mythic elements within the rich legacy of their scriptural and historical
> tradition.[38]
> 
> NOTES
> 
> I would like to express my thanks to Mr. William Collins, Dr. Moojan Momen, Dr.
> Peter Smith, Dr. Denis MacEoin, and Mr. Abú'l-Qásim Afnán
> A'lá'í for valuable critical comments on various rough drafts of
> this essay.
> 
> 1. Cf. Abbas Amanat, "The Early Years of the Bábí Movement:
> Background and Development" (Ph.D. Thesis, Oxford University, 1981) p. 100f.
> 
> 2. See Hasan Balyuzi, The Báb: The Herald of the Day of Days
> (Oxford: George Ronald, 1973) pp. 32ff, 230 note 4.
> 
> 3. On legends surrounding the birth and childhood of the Imám Husayn,
> see, for example, Mahmoud Ayoub, Redemptive Suffering in Islam (The
> Hague: Mouton Publishers, 1978) p. 69ff.
> 
> 4. Other stories of the Báb's childhood also clearly utilize traditional
> motifs and legends. For example, the story that he exclaimed "The Kingdom is
> God's" (al-mulk li'lláh) at the moment of his birth (see,
> Kitáb al-Nuqtát al-Káf [Leiden: Brill, 1910] p.
> 110f. and Táríkh-i Jadíd [Cambridge University
> Press, 1893] p. 262).
> 
> 5. On the Táríkh-i Jadíd, see Denis MacEoin, 'A
> Revised Survey of the Sources for Early Bábí Doctrine and
> History," Part II (Unpublished dissertation, 1977) p. 195ff.
> 
> 6. MacEoin, "Revised Survey," pp. 205-206. Cf. Amanat, "Early Years," p.
> 427f.
> 
> 7. See E.G.Browne, Jadíd, Introduction, p. xlix.
> 
> 8. Browne, Jadíd, pp. 262-64.
> 
> 9. Shoghi Effendi, The Dawn-Breakers. Nabíl's Narrative of the Early
> Days of the Bahá'í Revelation (Wilmette, Ill.:
> Bahá'í Publishing
> 
> [23]
> 
> Trust, 1932) Preface, p. xxxvii. Cf. MacEoin, "Revised Survey," p. 214ff.;
> Amanat, "Early Years," p. 429f.
> 
> 10. The Dawn-Breakers is an edited English translation of the first part
> of Zarandi's history (up to 1852-3). The original text has not been published.
> 
> 11. Hájí Mírzá Sayyid Ali was one of the maternal
> uncles of the Báb who looked after him following the death of his
> father. See Balyuzi, The Báb, p. 334f, 85ff.
> 
> 12. Shoghi Effendi, The Dawn-Breakers, pp. 75-76.
> 
> 13. Hájí Mírzá Habibu'lláh Afnán was,
> like his father, a Bahá'í. He was originally named Muhammad
> 'Alí. For some details of his life, see Muhammad Ali Faydí,
> Kitáb-i Khánidán-i Afnán (Tehran, 132
> Badi' [1975-6]) p. 230ff.; Balyuzi, The Báb, p. 32n.;
> idem., Bahá'u'lláh: The King of Glory (Oxford: George
> Ronald, 1980) pp. 430ff., 475; cf. Hussám Nuqabá'í,
> Manábi'y-i Tárikh-i Amr-i Bahá'í (Tehran,
> 133 Badi' [1976-71) p. 64.
> 
> A manuscript of the Táríkh-i Amriy-i Shiráz exists
> in the Iran National Bahá'í Archives (Ms. no.1027D) and a
> photocopy in the private library of the late Hasan Balyuzi (now the
> Afnán Library). I am extremely grateful to Dr. Moojan Momen for making a
> photocopy of Hájí Mírzá Habibu'lláh's
> manuscript available to me.
> 
> 14. See Táríkh-i Amriy-i Shiráz , pp. 5-14 (the
> narrative of Mullá Fath'u'lláh). This narrative puts into the
> Báb's father's mouth a cycle of infancy stories that probably originally
> circulated separately and orally.
> 
> At one point in the Táríkh-i Jadíd (London Codex),
> it is worth noting in connection with this cycle of stories, we read: "... as
> a boy he [the Báb] used to predict of pregnant women whether they would
> bring forth a male or a female infant, besides foretelling many chance
> occurrences, such as earthquakes and the ruin of certain places, as they
> actually took place." (p. 265) Cf. also Abdu'l-Husayn Ayari (Avárih),
> al-Kawákib al-Durriyya, vol. 1 (n.p., n.d.) p. 33;
> Hájí Muhammad Mu'in al-Saltana, Táríkh-i Amr
> (ins.) p. 28ff. Cf. Amanat, "Early Years," p. 124f.
> 
> 15. See Táríkh-i Amriy-i Shiráz , pp. 14-15 (the
> narrative of Aqá Ibráhim) paraphrased by Balyuzi in The
> Báb, pp. 34-35. I have slightly altered Balyuzi's translation of the
> couplet from Hafez. Immediately
> 
> [24]
> 
> following the narrative of Aqá Ibráhím is an account of an
> episode in the childhood of the Báb designed to highlight his
> supernatural knowledge, the story of the "unresolved theological problem." (pp.
> 15-17, summarized by Balyuzi in The Báb, p. 35)
> 
> 16. On the canonical Gospel accounts of Jesus' infancy, reference may be made
> to Raymond E. Brown, The Birth of the Messiah (London, 1977).
> 
> 17. On the Infancy Gospel of Thomas and related Infancy Gospels, see Stephen
> Gero, "The Infancy Gospel of Thomas" in Novum Testamentum 13 (1971) pp.
> 46ff (and Báb.); E. Hennecke, New Testament Apocrypha, Vol. I
> (SCM Press, 1973) p. 388ff. (and Báb.).
> 
> 18. The Infancy Gospel [Story] of Thomas 6: 1ff.; 7: 1ff.; 14: 1ff.; 15:
> 1ff.; New Testament Apocrypha, Vol. 1, p. 394ff (see fn. 17 above).
> Also, M. R. James, The Apocryphal New Testament (Oxford, 1926) p. 49ff. for an
> English translation of Greek Text A.
> 
> 19. See S. Gero, "Thomas," p. 71f., for a more detailed list of versions of the
> Alpha-Beta Logion.
> 
> 20. Translation from: Gk. A — New Testament Apocrypha, Vol. 1, p. 394;
> Gk. B. — James, The Apocryphal New Testament, p. 56; Epist. Apost. +
> Arabic — Gero, "Thomas," p. 71.
> 
> 21. Brian NcNeil in "Jesus and the Alphabet" in Journal of Theological
> Studies (NS), Vol. 21 (1971) pp. 126-28. writes: "I suggest that the
> source of this legend is to be found in the Story of Ahikar, in one of the
> proverbs which Ahikar imparts to his nephew. This is now extant in three
> versions:
> 
> Syriac viii.36. 'My son, they say to the wolf, "Why
> dost thou follow after the sheep?" He said to them, "The dust is exceedingly
> good for my eyes." ... And they brought him into the schoolhouse [lit., "the
> house of the scribe"]: the master said to him, "Aleph, Beth"; the wolf said,
> "Kid, Lamb."'
> 
> Arabic viii.33. '0 my boy! They made the wolf go to school that he
> might learn to read, and they said to him, "Say A, B." He said, "Lamb and goat
> in my belly."'
> 
> Armenian viii.23. 'Son, they gave teaching to the wolf's cub, and
> said: "Say thou ayb, ben, gim [i.e., the first three letters of the
> Armenian alphabet]"; and he said, ayts, bouts, garhn [i.e., goat, kid,
> lamb]."'
> 
> [25]
> 
> (Citing texts and translations from F. C. Conybeare, J. Rendel Harris, and
> Agnes Smith Lewis, The Story of Ahikar [Cambridge, 1913]).
> 
> 22. Gero, "Thomas," pp. 72-73.
> 
> 23. McNeil, "Jesus and the Alphabet," pp. 126-27.
> 
> 24. Cited in J. Robson, Christ in Islam (London: John Murray, 1929) p.
> 92. The version of this tradition translated by Robson is closely parallel to
> that in al-Tha'labi's well-known Qisas al-Anbiyá' (4th ed.
> [Cairo] 1382 A.H., p. 522).
> 
> 25. Translation from W. M. Thackston, Jr., The Tales of the Prophets of
> al-Kisa'i (Boston, 1978) pp. 332-33.
> 
> 26. Translated from Mullá Mulláininad Báqir
> Majlisí, Bihar'ul Anwár (Tehran: Dár al-kutub
> al-Islámiyya, n.d.) Vol.14, pp. 286-87. Note that in this version of the
> story of Jesus' first day at school Jesus is represented as explaining the
> abjad arrangement of the Arabic alphabet (eight meaningless words which
> act as a mnemonic device for remembering the numerical values of the letters)
> as if its first six "words" represent the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. A
> similar version of Jesus' first day at school is referred to by E. Sell and D.
> S. Margoliouth in an article entitled "Christ in Mohammedan Literature" (in
> A Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels, Vol. II [Edinburgh, 1909]) —
> again attributed to the 5th Shi'i Imám:
> 
> Jesus was so intelligent that, when nine months old, his mother sent him to
> school. The master said the Bismi'lláh — " In the name of God, the
> Merciful, the Compassionate" — which the child at once repeated after him. The
> Master then gave a number of words to be read, of which the first was abjad.
> Jesus wished to know why he should do this, upon which the master became
> angry and struck him. The child said: "If you know explain; if you do not,
> listen. In abjad, a stands for Alláh la ilah ("there is no
> God but God"), b for Bahjat Ulláh ("grace of God"), j
> for Jalal Ulláh ("glory of God"), d for Din
> Ulláh ("religion of God").
> 
> See also, for a more or less parallel version of this narrative, al-Tha'labi,
> Qisas al-Anbiyá' (Cairo, 1382 A.H.) pp. 521-22.
> 
> 27. So Corbin who notes that Abu'l-Khattáb was the 'too enthusiastic
> disciple of the Imám Ja'far al-Sádiq (d. c. 765)." (See
> Cyclical Time and Ismaili Gnosis [London, 19831 p. 154).
> 
> 28. H. Corbin, Cyclical Time, p. 56, fn. 100.
> 
> [26]
> 
> 29. Ibid., p. 168. The Persian treatise Ummu' l-Kitáb
> was edited by W. Ivanow in Der Islam XXIII.
> 
> 30. Considerable confusion exists in Bábí-Bahá'í
> sources as to the exact date of the Báb's father's death. While, for
> example, Mírzá Abu'l-Fadl-i-Gulpáygání
> states in his Táríkh-i Zuhúr (c. 1900?, trans. in
> The Bahá'í Proofs [2nd. Ed., Chicago, 1914] pp. 31-113)
> that Sayyid Muhammad Ridá "... died before his son [the Báb] ...
> was weaned" (presumably before he was two years old, p. 35), Hájí
> Mírzá Habibu'lláh explicitly writes
> (Táríkh-i Amriy-i Shiráz, p. 17) that he died when
> the Báb was nine years old (that is in 1828-9).
> 
> Amanat ("The Early Years," p. 102 + fn. 5) rejects the earlier dating of the
> Báb's father's death. Though he does not spell out his reasons, he is
> probably correct. This, it seems to me, in the light of a Muhammad ("type") —
> Báb ("antitype") typology. Since the prophet Muhammad's father,
> according to a multitude of Muslim sources (see for example, A. Guillaume,
> The Life of Muhammad: A Translation of Ibn Ishaq's Sirat Rasul Alláh
> [Oxford 1970] p. 69) died during his wife's pregnancy, the tendency would
> be to have the Báb's father die shortly after his wife's conception or
> giving birth. It is probably in the light of such an underlying typology that
> the Táríkh-i Jadíd and Táríkh-i
> Nabíl presuppose (in the story of the Báb's first day at
> school) that Sayyid Muhammad Ridá had died before the Báb entered
> Shaykh 'Abid's school. That the Báb's father is not mentioned in the
> account of the first day at school in the narrative of Mullá
> Fath'u'lláh (in the Tarikh-i Amriy-i Shiráz he fades from
> the scene), despite the fact that he is represented as having arranged for his
> schooling shortly before his entering Shaykh 'Abid's school, may be rooted in a
> drawing on oral traditions that presuppose the early death of the Báb's
> father — not in harmony with the rest of his narrative, or indeed with
> Hájí Mírzá Habibu'lláh's own statement that
> Sayyid Muhammad Ridá died when his son was nine years old, that is,
> about four years after he entered the school of Shaykh 'Abid. Mullá
> Fathu'lláh's having Hájí Mírzá Sayyid
> 'Alí present at the time of the Báb's first day at school is in
> conformity with the widely attested fact that he (in particular) supervised the
> Báb's education after his father's death (cf.
> Táríkh-i Nabíl). If, of course, the
> Báb's father did die before the Báb's elementary education began
> — the "Muhammad-Báb
> 
> [27]
> 
> typology" reflecting historical fact or perhaps not being relevant — then the
> veracity of Mullá Fath'u'lláh's narrative is called into
> question; unless, and this is very unlikely, the Báb's father died a few
> days before the Báb went to school.
> 
> 31. That elements derived from the Islamic accounts of Jesus' early school days
> were hagiographically reworked in Bábí-Bahá'í
> circles in order to fill out the doubtless reliable tradition that the
> Báb's early schooling was erratic and largely unsuccessful need not be
> taken to indicate a dishonest manipulation of written sources. In a missionary,
> promulgatory, or devotional context, the tendency to spontaneously embellish
> the story of the Báb by drawing on elements existing in the reservoir of
> prophetological legend would not, in a nineteenth century
> Bábí-Bahá'í context, have been something untoward
> or theologically illegitimate — especially in the light of the
> Bábí-Bahá'í conviction that major prophets of God
> are all essentially one.
> 
> 32. Shaykh 'Abid is said to have written a monograph or tract on the childhood
> of the Báb, presumably shortly before his death in c. 1846-7. (See
> Balyuzi, The Báb, p. 231, fn. 4; Amanat, "The Early Years," p.
> 104, fn. 4). It is apparently in the hands of Muslims not well-disposed toward
> the Bábí-Bahá'í movement. It would be rash,
> assuming this tract really does exist, to argue from silence that it must be
> the source of the diverse and contradictory accounts of the Báb's first
> day at school — some of the content of which could have been orally
> circulating. Unless Shaykh 'Abid's alleged monograph surfaces, it would seem
> best to ignore the unlikely possibility that it contains an account of the
> Báb's first day at school parallel with the later written versions.
> 
> Even if this were proven to be the case it could be argued that Shaykh 'Abid
> himself drew on and adapted the Christian-Islamic versions of Jesus' early
> schooling.
> 
> 33. Other stories about the Báb's childhood seem to reflect a
> "Jesus-Báb typology." In, for example, the Kashfu'l-Ghitá 'an
> Hiyálu'l-A'dá (Ishqabad, n.d.), Mírzá
> Abu'l-Fadl-i-Gulpáygání (1844-1914) relates a story that
> he heard from Sayyid Jawád Karbalá'i (d. Kerinan, c. 882-3) to
> the effect that the Báb came late to school and, when asked by his
> teacher where he had been, stated that he had been (praying) in the house of
> his ancestor (dar khánih-i jaddam). (pp. 83-4.
> 
> [28]
> 
> Cf. also, the similar story related on the authority of Hájí
> Sayyid Muhammad Shírázi, p. 84) It is not impossible that this
> narrative reflects the story of the young Jesus at the Jerusalem Temple (Luke
> 2: 41-52) — as, for example, the Báb was understood to have been "in
> the house of his ancestor" so Jesus explained that he was in his "Father's
> [God's] house" (Luke 2: 49). Cf. Amanat, "The Early Years," p. 126f.
> 
> 34. An admittedly speculative suggestion would be that the circulation of the
> story of Jesus' first day at school in nineteenth century
> Bábí-Bahá'í circles owed something to the pious
> creativity of Sayyid Jawád Karbalá'i (on whom see, for example,
> 'Azizu'lláh Sulayináni (ed.), Masabihy-i Hidáyat,
> Vol. II [Tehran, n.d.] p. 471ff.). He had close links with the Báb's
> family, apparently induced Shaykh 'Abid to view the Báb and
> Bábism with favor, and confided in Gulpáygání who
> had a hand in the writing of the Táríkh-i Jadíd.
> 
> 35. Partly in view of the Bábí-Bahá'í
> doctrine of "return" (raj'a), such a typology also informs the
> accounts of the lives of leading Bábís and Bahá'ís.
> In the light, for example, of the fact that Mullá Muhammad 'Alí
> Bárfurúshí, Quddús, was once seen as the "return of
> Jesus" (who figures in Muslim eschatology), he is said to have been born of a
> virgin (see Kitáb-i Nuqtat al-Käf p. 199 and cf.
> Táríkh-i Jadíd [Appendix II] p. 366). Enemies of
> the Bábí-Bahá'í movements, it might also be noted
> here, take on the characteristics of traditional and eschatological opponents
> of Shi'i Islám. The Shaykh leader Karím Khán
> Kirmaní (1810-1870) is pictured in certain sources as being "one-eyed"
> or a latter-day manifestation of the Muslim Antichrist, the Dajjäl
> (for some details, see my "Antichrist-Dajjal: Some Notes on the Christian
> and Islamic Antichrist traditions, and their Bahá'í
> Interpretation" in Bahá'í Studies Bulletin, Vol. 1, No. 3
> [December, 1982] pp. 3-43).
> 
> 36. In Nabíl Zarandi's Táríkh, for example, it is
> asserted on the authority of Mullá Mírzá Muhammad Furughi'
> that in accordance with Islamic prophetic tradition
> (Hádíth) Mullá Husayn informed Quddús
> that exactly 313 Bábís had arrived at the shrine of Shaykh
> Tabarsí in Mázindarán (see The Dawn-Breakers, p.
> 256). Though it may have been the case that Mullá Husayn arrived at this
> place with companions whose numbers eventually reached 313 (cf. E. G. Browne
> [ed.], A Traveller's Narrative [Cambridge University Press, 1891]
> 
> [29]
> 
> p. 37), the fact that estimates of the number of Bábís present
> during the Mázindarán upheaval (which lasted from mid-October
> 1848 to early May 1849) "differ widely" (For details see Momen, "The Social
> Basis of the Bábí Upheavals in Iran (1848-53): A Preliminary
> Analysis" in International Journal of Middle East Studies 15 [19831 p.
> 161f.) suggests that the figure 313 is more meta-historical than concrete fact.
> The sources, furthermore, are confused as to at which point the number 313 was
> attained, if indeed, this figure is mentioned at all.
> 
> A study of the various accounts of the Báb's pilgrimage could provide
> further examples of the interplay between what "actually happened" and what, in
> the light of eschatological prophecies, "ought to have happened."
> 
> 37. In modern Bahá'í circles the Kitáb-i Nuqtat
> al-Káf (among other sources) has come, I think incorrectly, to be
> deemed an Azali fabrication. While there are problems surrounding the origins
> and authorship of this work it does contain material which accurately reflects
> Bábí perspectives of the early 1850s. It is neither
> anti-Bahá'í, nor devoid of historical value. The part of the
> Táríkh-i Nabíl translated by Shoghi Effendi has, on
> the other hand, come to be invested with an exaggerated authority. Valuable and
> important though this work is, it is but one among other important
> Bahá'í interpretations (as far as the published part is
> concerned) of Bábí history. Its existence does not make reference
> to other, sometimes conflicting, sources meaningless, irrelevant, or
> "heretical."
> 
> That "parts of the manuscripts" of the Táríkh-i Nabíl
> were reviewed and approved, some by Bahá'u'lláh, and others
> by Abdu'l-Bahá" (The Dawn-Breakers, p. xxxvii) need not be taken
> as proof that every detail within it is an infallible expression of concrete
> historical fact. It should be borne in mind that: We do not (apparently) know
> which "parts of the manuscripts" (note the plural, manuscripts)
> or which manuscript Bahá'u'lláh and Abdu'l-Bahá
> reviewed; that Bahá'u'lláh and Abdu'l-Bahá "reviewed"
> parts of the manuscripts of Nabíl's narrative should not
> be taken to signify that they were operating like modern Western reviewers who
> might be particularly concerned with empirical historical accuracy.
> 
> If a given narrative, such as that attributed to Shaykh 'Abid, expressed a
> "spiritual truth," Bahá'u'lláh and Abdu'l-Bahá would very
> likely have regarded it as acceptable, whether or not it represented
> 
> [30]
> 
> "historical fact" in all its details. In this respect, it is also worth bearing
> in mind that the writings of Bahá'u'lláh and Abdu'l-Bahá
> contain meta-historical materials. Prophet figures and holy men are primarily
> concerned with the promotion of spirituality, and not the furtherance of an
> academic historiography. Can one, indeed should one, imagine Jesus arguing with
> the scribes and Pharisees about whether Old Testament pericopes come from the
> alleged "J," "E," "D," or "P," pentateuchal sources or whether Moses lived in
> the sixteenth or thirteenth century B.C.? This might be an exaggerated
> rhetorical question, but it is in this light that it is worth noting that
> Abdu'l-Bahá "reviewed" many of the writings of early Western
> Bahá'ís, praised them, and approved their publication despite the
> fact that a good many of them — as Abdu'l-Bahá was obviously well aware
> — contained ideas that were not in accordance with Bahá'í
> teachings. His generous doctrinal liberality, designed to encourage and foster
> unity, outweighed a rigid imposition of doctrinal orthodoxy in secondary
> matters. It is not then enough to assert that because Bahá'u'lláh
> and Abdu'l-Bahá "reviewed" parts of Nabíl's narrative that this
> work is alone worthy of scholarly attention, or that it constitutes an
> infallible touchstone for determining the empirical truth of divergent
> historical perspectives. In scholarly circles it is well known that
> Nabíl's narrative contains errors of a concrete nature.
> 
> The Bahá'í Faith is neither enhanced by nor dependent on an
> uncritical acceptance of narratives reported by Bahá'í
> historians. Bahá'ís are not obliged to view them as either
> canonical or infallible. Neither Abdu'l-Bahá nor Shoghi Effendi claimed
> infallibility when conveying historical data.
> 
> 38. I should like to point out to the Bahá'í reader who may
> believe that an academic analysis of Bábí-Bahá'í
> historical sources is a "threat to faith" that such scholarly endeavors are not
> designed to destroy faith. Ultimately, they may actually promote a more
> balanced faith when findings are articulated by Bahá'í
> theologians. That certain narratives in well-known
> Bábí-Bahá'í sources can be shown to be essentially
> legendary or meta-historical does not mean that they become less meaningful for
> the Bahá'í believer. They may, in fact, become more meaningful,
> and less historically problematic. The modern
> 
> [31]
> 
> scholarly recognition that the Gospels are not exactly concrete historical
> narratives does not make them spiritually meaningless for the mature Christian
> believer.
> 
> In a devotional context, there is no reason why legendary
> Bábí-Bahá'í narratives should not be read and
> pondered. It would be unfortunate if a scholar should argue that his or her
> exposition of the nonhistorical nature of aspects of
> Bábí-Bahá'í history should necessitate the communal
> eradication of meaningful myth and legend. Also unfortunate would be the
> thoughtless condemnation of scholars who attempt to argue that cherished
> stories are legendary or contain non-historical elements.
> 
> METADATA
> 
> Views30279 views since posted 2002; last edit 2025-03-07 11:04 UTC;
> 
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> — *An Episode in the Childhood of the Bab (Used by permission of the curator)*